Belfast councillors vote to give employees premature birth leave

At present maternity leave and pay cannot be extended if a baby is born prematurely

Belfast council workers who have premature babies could be given extended leave under new plans.

Belfast councillors have voted in favour of amending maternity leave provision for staff.

If fully approved, mothers of premature babies will not start maternity leave until the child's due date.

It is the first move of its kind for the civil service in Northern Ireland, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The plan would mean any leave required from the delivery date will be defined as compassionate leave and not affect a council employee's right to full parental leave.

The council's legal representative told the chamber that the committee was asked to agree the motion "in principle" pending a report by council officers looking at "financial and other implications".

At present, all eligible employees in the UK have a statutory right to 52 weeks maternity leave but maternity leave and pay cannot be extended if a baby is born prematurely.

Workers may take options like annual leave, or unpaid leave.

A private members' bill is currently making its way through the House of Lords, which would mean parents could take up to an extra 12 weeks of paid leave if their child is born prematurely.

However it would not apply to Northern Ireland where employment law is a devolved matter.

Every year in Northern Ireland 1,900 babies are born prematurely.

In 2018, one baby in every 13 babies born prematurely required specialist care in a neonatal unit in Northern Ireland.

If approved it means mothers of premature babies will not start their maternity leave until the due date of the child

The decision was made during the Belfast City Council's Strategic Policy and Resources Committee.

'Difficult time'

DUP councillor Gareth Spratt, who proposed the motion, told the chamber that the issue was close to his heart.

His twin girls were born prematurely.

"My wife's waters broke quite unexpectedly on a trip to the theatre at a gestation of only 23 weeks and five days," he said.

"Our worst fears seemed inevitable. However, with the intervention of the health service, our girls did not arrive until a gestation of 27 weeks and one day.

"Desperately sick, the prognosis was bleak, and we were encouraged to have the girls baptised because their condition was unsurvivable."

The girls spent time in the Royal Victoria Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit and the Ulster Hospital.

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"Seventy-three days in hospital, and 73 days from my wife's maternity leave - that's 73 days from your chance to bond as a family, and do all the things that new families do," he explained.

"It's a very difficult time, there's very little contact, and obviously a strict hygiene policy. With frequent medical interventions, it is a difficult period," he added.

He said the council would benefit from being a "supportive employer of staff".